


Once Upon A December

by LiaBee



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: (it's later on in the story), Angst, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I don't know if you noticed, That's weird, Villain Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF), i don't know how to tag things, no beta we die like tommy's dad in this story, wait found family isn't a tag?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29673828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiaBee/pseuds/LiaBee
Summary: Tommy was a strange teenager. He couldn't remember anything from before he was found alone, wandering the streets of the Antarctic Empire when he was eight. He couldn't even remember his last name! But he knows his family is out there somewhere waiting for him, he just has to find them.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------An Anastasia AU where Tommy is the lost prince and is trying to find his family.
Relationships: NO ROMANTIC REALATIONSHIPS - Relationship, dont ship minors - Relationship, platonic only
Comments: 8
Kudos: 71





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first fic so I'm sorry if it's bad. 
> 
> I was just watching Anastasia with my sister and thought "what if Tommy was Anastasia?" and so here we are.
> 
> If you see any grammar mistakes/typos in the story, no you don't  
> I'm just kidding. Tell me if you do and try to fix it!

Theseus hated parties. Well, not all parties, he liked birthday parties and fun celebrations, but the party he was at right now was not one of those kinds of parties. This party was a royal ball, and he hated those kinds of parties. They were full of snobby, old people and he was forced to wear an uncomfortable, stuffy suit. He would much rather wear his normal clothes, at least they were comfortable. 

He wished he could just leave the party and go back to his room to read, or play with his toys, or do literally anything other than stay at this party, but he couldn’t. He was the prince of the Antarctic Empire, so he had to stay. His father said ‘he had to learn how to act like royalty because one day, he would be king’. It made sense that his father wanted him to learn how to be king and all that fancy stuff, but he was only eight! Of course, he would never bring this point up to his father, Theseus wanted everyone to know he was a big man and could take care of himself. 

By the way the party had been going so far, Theseus could tell the rest of it was going to be super boring, but he supposed there was one upside. The one upside was that Philza was at the party. Phil was the coolest person he had ever met, and Theseus has met a lot of people. Phil was a super cool warrior in the past and won a bunch of wars, and he was also Theseus’ grandpa. 

“Theseus!” Phil called over the chatter of the crowd, "Can you come over here for a minute? I have a gift for you!” 

Theseus perked up and smiled at the mention of a gift. Unlike this party, he loved gifts. It didn’t even matter what the gift was, he loved the feeling of surprise and excitement he got just from receiving it, but the actual gift was nice as well. He ran over to Phil to see what he had to give to him. 

“What is it?” Theseus asked excitedly. Phil showed him the gift. It was a music box and a locket that read ‘Together in L’manberg’. 

“It’s so you can remember me even when we are apart.” Phil grabbed locket and music box and started winding it up. It started playing Mellohi, one of Theseus’ favorite songs. Phil gave him the music box and put the locket around Theseus’ neck. 

“Really!? These are for me!? Thank you so much!” Theseus gave Phil a hug to show him his gratitude. He was so happy that he almost didn’t even notice the way that everyone had gone silent and the way Phil looked at something behind him with a scared expression. 

Theseus turned around and saw that the crown of people had parted and in the middle of the clearing was a strange man wearing a mask with an unnerving smiley face drawn onto it. 

“Dream,” his father growled,”I told you to never come back here again!” His father was very angry that Dream was here. Theseus didn’t know all the details, but he know that Dream had betrayed his family somehow. 

“Well, your highness, I decided to ignore you,” Dream responded, “Besides, aren’t we friends? I’ve helped you so much over the years” 

“And then you betrayed me! You are a traitor to the crown and should’ve been executed for your crimes, but I decided to show you mercy as long as you never showed your face here again!” his father shouted. 

Dream and his father were still fighting when Phil quietly led Theseus out of the ballroom. He didn’t get to hear the declaration Dream made shortly after he left. 

Over the next few days, the people of the Antarctic Empire grew restless and angry. They stormed the palace in the middle of the night to kill everyone in the royal family. 

“Wake up Theseus! We have to leave now!” Phil shook him awake. He could hear screams and explosions and smelled smoke. He immediately got up and started to panic. 

“What’s happening?” Theseus asked, terrified. Phil didn’t respond, he only grabbed his arm and led him out of his room and into the hallway where he saw other people rushing to get out of the palace. Outside the window he could only see fires burning and he knew his life was in danger. 

“My music box!” Theseus gasped in realization. He had left it in his room. He ran back to get it and heard Phil yell and run after him. 

He quickly grabbed the music box and turned around to rush back outside again, but a stranger appeared out of a secret passage in the wall. 

“Come on, follow me! We can take the servants passages!” The teenager said urgently. The stranger ushered him and Phil into the passage. They heard people banging on the door and quickly went into the passage. The both made it outside, but they didn’t see the stranger and Theseus had also dropped his music box sometime during the panic. 

Theseus and Phil rushed to the train station, so that they could leave in order to be safe from the angry mob of people. They ran across the lake that had frozen over to get to station as fast as possible. Then, out of nowhere Dream appeared and grabbed Theseus’ foot. 

“Let me go!!” Theseus shrieked. He struggled in Dream’s grip and Phil tried to pull him out of Dream’s grip. but his hold on him didn’t loosen. 

“There’s no way I’ll let you get away you ignorant child. I swore I would kill everyone in the Wilson bloodline, and that includes you!” Dream yelled. 

While he was busy yelling, Dream didn’t notice the ice starting to crack under his feet. The ice beneath him broke and Dream fell into the freezing water. Theseus didn’t have time to process that he had watched someone die right in front of him before Phil quickly yanked him away from the broken ice and in the direction of the train station. 

They made it to the station and ran after the train that they needed to get onto. The train was already moving so they had to hurry. Phil made it on and turned around to grab Theseus and lift him on the train, but he was already struggling to keep up with the train. 

“Phil!” Theseus shouted. Phil grabbed his hand and he held on as tightly as he could. Theseus had started to run out of energy, but the train only started moving faster. 

“Theseus! Don’t let go!” Phil shouted panicked. He had just lost his son; he couldn’t lose his grandson either, but fate is a cruel mistress. 

Theseus tripped on the rails and let go of Phil’s hand. He fell onto the rails, hitting his head on the steel, and blacking out. 

“THESEUS!” Phil shouted, devastated that he had lost two of the most important people in his life on the same night. The train sped away, on its way to L’manberg, leaving the unconscious Theseus behind it. 


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wilbur gets an idea when he hears a rumor going around the Antarctic Empire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Thank you guys so much for everything! I honestly didn't expect this story to get as many hits and kudos as it did. I was expecting maybe 10 hits? It made me so happy when I saw this story had gotten kudos. So again, thank you.
> 
> Anyways, here's the chapter!

\--Eight years later-- 

Wilbur was playing guitar in the town square, hoping to get a few extra coins to be able to buy things at the market. He wasn’t poor, per say, but an extra coin or two would be nice. When he decided that he had gotten enough for day, he got up to leave. 

On his way home, he heard a group of people whispering ahead of him. He rolled his eyes. He didn’t care too much about the gossip that went around the town, most of the rumors were absolutely absurd and about things he didn’t really care about. When they crossed paths, he caught the words “Prince Theseus” and “fortune”. Now _that_ piqued his interest. 

He grabbed the arm of one of the people in group. "Hey, what are you whispering about?” Wilbur asked the stranger. 

“There’s a rumor going around that Prince Theseus is still alive and King Philza is willing to give the person who brings his grandson to him a fortune!” the stranger responded, "But you didn’t hear it from me.” Then the person ran off to catch up with the people they were walking with before. 

‘So King Philza thinks his grandson is alive...’ Wilbur thought to himself. He knew that was impossible; everyone in the Wilson bloodline died eight years ago. It was almost sad that he kept on hoping that his grandson was alive, but it did give him an idea. 

Wilbur ran over to the flower fields on the outskirts of town. The field was filled almost every flower you could ever name. Chrysanthemums, marigolds, pansies, hyacinths, roses, and many more. He knew that he would find who he was looking for there, and he did. 

“Tubbo!” Wilbur yelled from behind the boy. Tubbo had been watching the bees fly around the field. He had always found them interesting to observe. He turned around to look at Wilbur.

“Oh! Hi Wilbur!” Tubbo greeted, “What brings you here?” 

“Do you want to go to L’manberg?” Wilbur asked. He saw Tubbo’s eyes light up at the mention of the place. Tubbo had always wanted to go there. He eagerly nodded his head, agreeing to go. 

“Yes! Of course I want to go! What kind of question is that!?” 

“Good, but there’s a catch” 

“Okay? What is it?” Tubbo tilted his head to the side in confusion. 

“We have to get someone to pretend to be Prince Theseus.” Wilbur responded, waiting for Tubbo’s reaction. 

“What? Why? Didn’t he die during the palace raid at the start of the revolution?” Now Tubbo was even more confused. 

“Well, yes, but King Philza thinks he is still alive and is willing to give the person who brings Theseus to him a fortune. We can finally get out of this place!” He and Tubbo had been wanting to leave the Antarctic Empire for a while now. 

“So, you want us to lie to a grieving old man who is in denial about his grandson’s death?” Tubbo was now much less enthusiastic about this whole plan. 

Wilbur blinked. He hadn’t thought of it that way. "Well, when you put it like that it sounds really bad.” 

“That’s because it is.” Tubbo responded. 

“Think of it this way,” Wilbur put his arm around Tubbo, “We are helping Philza by doing this! He gets to live out the rest of his days with his grandson, the person we get to pretend to be Theseus gets to be treated like royalty, and we get the money so we can start our new life! Everyone wins! Now, are you in?” Wilbur asked. 

Tubbo rolled his eyes, "Even if I did agree to this plan, how are you even get someone to act like Theseus?” 

“Uh,” Wilbur hadn’t actually thought about that part, “We can hold auditions! Get someone to start telling people and news about the Prince Theseus auditions spread like wildfire. People around here love to gossip.” 

“I still don’t know about this. It doesn’t feel right.” Tubbo didn’t like to lie to people, even if would be beneficial to everyone involved, like Wilbur had insisted. 

“How about this, you can help me decide who we get to play Theseus. If you don’t like them, I won’t hire them. Your word is final.” Wilbur compromised. He stuck out his hand towards Tubbo. 

“...Okay, fine. We have a deal.” Tubbo reluctantly shook Wilbur’s hand. 

“Great! I’ll start spreading the news! Meet me in the abandoned theatre tomorrow at noon.” Wilbur ran off towards the town to start the first step of the plan. 

Tubbo sighed and turned back around to watch the bees again. He knew this was a bad idea. What if they got caught? What if they couldn’t find someone to act as Theseus? 

Tubbo shook his head to get rid of the bad thoughts. He tried to think of the positives. They would be helping people and improving their lives! Like Wilbur said, Philza would get his grandson, the actor would get to be treated like royalty, and he and Wilbur would get to live better lives in L’manberg. 

God, he hoped this plan would work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Don't forget to stay safe and stay hydrated!


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy makes a choice (and meets a new friend).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a good day! Sorry this took a bit longer to post, school does that to ya.  
> In fact, I should be doing my school work right now, but I'm writing this instead! My missing assignments are a problem for future me!  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
> 
> TW//  
> implied/referenced child abuse  
> cursing
> 
> (Only a small bit in the second paragraph, but still be careful! It's basically the headmistress mistreating the kids in the orphanage Tommy lives in. There is also gonna be cursing from now on. It's Tommy, what did you expect?)

Tommy walked out of the orphanage, trailing behind the headmistress. She was a short, old lady with an even shorter temper. She was saying something, but he wasn’t listening. She was probably saying something important, but he was tired of hearing her voice after eight years of her complaining about having to take care of kids. 

‘If she hated kids so much, why did she decide to run an orphanage?’ Tommy would think to himself every time she would complain. He said that to her once, and he didn’t get dinner that night, so he never said it again, to her face at least. 

He felt someone pull on his scarf and turned to look at who did it. It was the headmistress. 

“What did you say? I wasn’t listening.” Tommy said and watch her face grow red with anger. Tommy smirked to himself, he loved to mess with her. It was one thing he was good at, pushing her buttons. 

‘The bitch deserves it,’ Tommy thought to himself. 

“I _said_ , I got you a job at the fish market,” The headmistress repeated, “Go straight down the path and go left when the path splits.” 

“Wow, thank you so much for getting me the most disgusting job known to man,” Tommy said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. 

“You should be grateful I did all of this for you! Don’t forget I’m the one who took you in that night you were found wandering the streets, saying that you forgot who you were!” She shouted at him. 

Tommy scoffed and rolled his eyes again. She never believed that he lost his memories, claiming that he was doing it for attention and for pity. Which he wasn’t, he hated being pitied. He couldn’t remember anything before that night when he was eight. 

“Now get out of here, I’m tired of having to deal with you.” She ordered, pointing her finger towards the road. 

Tommy normally didn’t take orders from anyone, but he had been waiting for years to be able to finally get out of that hellhole of an orphanage, so he started to head away from the place he had been staying for the past eight years. 

“Fucking finally,” Tommy muttered to himself. 

“I heard that!” The headmistress shouted. Tommy turned around and flipped her off. 

And like that, he was gone. 

While walking down the path, Tommy’s mind began to wander. He grabbed his necklace that was hidden under his shirt. It read ‘Together in L’manberg’ and it was the only clue he had to finding his family. 

After a few minutes of walking, he reached the split in the path. 

‘Go left’. Tommy remembers what the headmistress said, but did he want to listen? He hadn’t ever really listened to her before, so why start now? 

He knew what would be waiting for him if he went left. Years of working in a boring job with minimum pay and he would probably never find his family. 

But if he went right? Who knows what he would find? Maybe a rich man willing to give Tommy his mansion for free, or a bunch of hot women? He knew both of those ideas were pretty outlandish, but, hey, a guy can dream. 

Tommy sighed and weighed his options. If he went left, he could live a normal, boring life and know what to expect. But if he went right, like he mentioned before, anything could happen. He could find his family or it will be the same as if he went left. 

Stick to what he knew, or go into the unknown. 

Tommy groaned in frustration. He didn’t know what to do. He sat down on the ground to think for a bit longer. 

Out of nowhere, he heard a bark from behind him. He quickly turned around to see what made the noise, but he didn’t see anything. 

‘Huh. Guess it was my imagination’ Tommy shrugged and turned back around. When he got back around, there was a dog right in front of his face. 

Tommy yelped and fell backwards into a patch of tall grass. He turned red with embarrassment. Big men don’t get scared! He wasn’t expecting a dog to be right in front of his face. He was just caught off guard. 

He got back up and got a second look at the dog that made him fall. It was a small dog that was white with brown spots and long ears. If Tommy had to guess, it was a beagle. 

Tommy looked around him to find anyone that could be this dog’s own, but he didn’t see anyone. There were no houses nearby, so he couldn’t have run away from someone. He looked around his neck to find a collar, but didn’t see one. 

“Do you have an owner?” Tommy asked the dog. He realized how stupid it sounded after he asked the question. Did he expect the dog to respond? 

“Go home! Go back to your family!” Tommy told the dog. He shooed the dog away with his hands, but the dog didn’t move. He just sat there with his head tilted to the side. 

“Do you even have a family to go back to?” Tommy asked, sympathetically. Again, asking a dog a question it couldn’t answer. The dog whimpered and Tommy guessed that it meant that the dog didn’t have a family. 

“Well, I guess you can stick with me for a while. Us orphans have to stick together, right?” Tommy told the dog. The dog stood up and wagged his tail. He was excited to have a friend after being alone for who knows how long. 

“If we’re going to be together for a while, I should give you a name.” Tommy said to the dog. 

“How about Henry? You like that name?” Tommy asked the dog. The dog spun around in a circle and barked, saying that he liked the name Henry. 

“Okay, Henry it is then!” Tommy laughed and pet Henry a few times to calm him down. 

Then, Henry started walking down the right path. Tommy stopped and thought for a second. Was he really going to choose what path to take because of a dog? Henry looked back at Tommy and barked, signaling for him to follow. 

‘Welp, looks like I’m going right’ Tommy thought to himself as he walked down to where Henry was on the right path. 

Tommy made his choice. He was going into the unknown. 


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy tries to find a way to get back to his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!  
> Hope you're all having a great day! And if you're not having a good day, I hope it gets better! <3

Tommy made it to the Antarctic Empire without too much trouble. It took about two days to get there and he and Henry stopped at an inn to stay at during the night. Tommy decided that when they made it to the city, he would get a ticket to  L’Manberg to find his family.

“Alright who’s next!” the person at the counter shouted. Tommy was currently in line to get in his ticket to L’Manberg, and the person in front of him just got their ticket, so Tommy was next in line. He had just enough to afford one ticket.

“Okay what do you want?” The person asked Tommy. They seemed slightly irritated, but Tommy couldn’t pinpoint why.

“One ticket to  L’Manberg ,” Tommy said as he handed over the money for the ticket. The person behind the counter put out their hand to take the money, but even after Tommy dropped the money in their hand, they kept their hand out. It was as if they were waiting for Tommy give them something else.

“What?” Tommy asked in confusion.

“Where’s your exit visa?” The person behind the counter asked.

“Exit visa? What the fuck is that?”

“If you don’t have an exit visa, you don’t get a ticket.” The worker shoved the money back into Tommy’s hand and shouted, “Next in line!”

Tommy scoffed and moved out of the line. He started to walk away, fully prepared to walk all the way to  L’Manberg . It couldn’t be too far away, right? He could totally walk there.

Just as he was starting to form a plan in his head, he felt someone give a small tug on his arm and he turned to look at who did it. It was an old man who was a person or two behind him in line.

“ Psst , hey kid,” the old man whispered to him, “I overheard what you were saying to the worker. You need an exit  visa, right?”

“Yeah, so what?” Tommy whispered back to the man. By the way he was acting, Tommy  assumed that he had a visa. He was kind of sketchy, and Tommy was prepared for the stranger to try to get Tommy to sell drugs for him to get the visa, or some other absurd favor to get the visa.

“I know where you can get one.” The man said. Now that caught his attention.

“Where?” Tommy asked, now intrigued. Tommy hoped that the stranger wouldn’t try to get Tommy to sell drugs for him or some other absurd favor in order to get the visa.

“Find Wilbur Soot. He usually stays at the old abandoned palace, so you can find him there. He can get you a visa, but you didn’t hear it from me.” The man told him and turned back in line and discreetly shooed him away.

Tommy nodded his head, showing he understood what the man told him. He picked up Henry and started to head away from the train station.

After walking for a minute or two, Tommy stopped and asked someone for directions.

“Hey, do you know where can I find the old palace?” Tommy asked the person closest to him. It was a kind looking woman.

“Oh, it’s just to the left of that intersection over there...” She pointed in the direction he needed to go.

The woman continued to give him directions and Tommy was actively listening so he didn’t forget the directions. 

Suddenly, someone bumped into his shoulder.

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” Tommy told the person who bumped into him. He was short and had brown hair.

“Oh, sorry!” The brunet apologized. He looked genuinely sorry, it was clearly an accident, so Tommy didn’t say anything else and he turned back to the lady who was giving him directions.

“...Then you turn right at the statue and from there you can see the palace!” The woman finished.

“Okay, thanks for the directions!” Tommy thanked the kind woman. Then, he turned away and followed the instructions that she gave him.

When he finally got to the palace, the sun was almost set. He looked around for the entrance, but it was blocked off, so he couldn’t get in.

Suddenly, Henry jumped out of his arms and started running off to the side of the palace.

“Henry!” Tommy whisper-shouted after him, but Henry either didn’t hear him or decided to ignore him. Tommy cursed and started chasing after his dog.

Henry made it to one of the boarded-up windows and slid under the planks blocking it. Tommy looked between the spaces between the boards to see if he could spot Henry.

“Henry! Get back here!” Tommy whispered again, and  again; Henry ignored him.

Tommy got a good grip on a weak part of the planks and yanked the planks off the window. He dropped the piece of the planks he got off, and headed inside the building.

He went through the makeshift entrance and ended up spotting Henry at the end of a long hallway.

“Henry! I swear if you don’t come over right now, I’m going to make you regret it!” Tommy threatened, but he wasn’t actually going to do anything to him. He would never purposely harm Henry in any way, shape, or form, and Henry seemed to know that too.

Henry looked back at Tommy, barked, and continued to run down the hallway and into a large room.

“You son of a bitch,” Tommy muttered under his breath. Tommy ran after him and continued to mutter to himself.

While Tommy was running through the hallway, out of the corner of his eye, he saw what had looked like a fire burning outside of the windows and heard something that sounded like a scream. Tommy’s eyes widened and he stopped and turned around to look behind him. He scanned the area behind him but he didn’t see any fire or anything that could have made the noise he heard.

Henry barked from the other room and Tommy remembered that he had a dog to chase after.

“Henry, what the hell are you doing here-” Tommy stopped mid-sentence when he walked through the doorway and into the room Henry was in. 

It was a giant ballroom with a massive, elegant chandelier and a beautiful marble dance floor. The walls were covered with large stained-glass windows and long white curtains to match. While the room was beautiful, everything in it was covered in a thick coat of dust.

‘Whoa,’ Tommy thought to himself, ‘This place is  _ huge’ _

While he was looking around to find where Henry had hidden, everything seemed eerily familiar. Like he had been here before. Tommy scoffed, there was no way he had been here before! He probably saw a picture of the ballroom in a history book or something.

“There you are you little shit,” Tommy said with a small smile on his face as he grabbed Henry from under one of the tables against the wall.

“Come on, let's go find this ‘Wilbur Soot’ guy,” Tommy said to Henry. He turned around to go find anyone in the palace, but he found himself in a totally different room.

“What the fuck?” Tommy asked in confusion. The room looked the same, but everything looked cleaned and there was an orchestra playing and bunch of people dancing.

“ _ What the fuck!?”  _ Tommy asked again, 10 times more confused and if he was being honest, he was a bit scared. There was no way an entire ballroom was cleaned and filled up to capacity. 

Henry barked and Tommy looked down at him. 

“Not now Henry, I need to find out where we are-” Tommy looked up and found himself back in the old dusty palace. He looked around himself to find anything that resembled the room he was just in, but he didn’t see anything. 

‘Am I going crazy!?’ Tommy asked himself. He must have inhaled too much dust while looking for Henry. Yeah, that’s probably what it was. Before Tommy could somehow convince himself that whatever had just happened was just his imagination, he heard a shout from the other side of the room.

“Hey! What are you doing in here!?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I've already started the next chapter, so expect that in a few days!  
> Take care of yourself and don't forget to stay hydrated!

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!
> 
> I have a whole outline for this story I have planned out, so I can't wait to write more!
> 
> I don't have a set update schedule, but I'm going to try to post at least once a week.
> 
> Don't forget to take care of yourself and stay hydrated!!


End file.
